Save Money Shopping at Stores

Posted:Abigail Andrews – Sunday, August 26th, 2007

Tricks that Make You Spend & How to Fight Back

Ever notice how you can go to a shop to pick up just one thing and then, by the time you get to the check stand, you have five or six things in your trolly and you had spent more than you had anticipated? Shops use an array of techniques to get you to pick up these items. By itself, each technique isn't very strong, it's the use of them in combination that is powerful. While clipping coupons and buying generic brands to save money while shopping is great, by far the best way to keep your supermarket shopping expenses under control is by understanding how supermarkets attempt to control your behaviour.

Here's a list of some of the tricks shops use and some tips on how to fight back and save money!

Shopping Trolly's

Most customers enter the supermarkets intending to buy only a basket full of items, but the shopping trolly's are right there by the entrance and, oh, I wouldn't want to hurt my back while trying to carry all them things in a basket. The trolly has a huge bin, making it psychologically easy to toss in an item you don't need, after all, there's room for plenty more, right?

FIGHT BACK - Use a Basket - Don't use a shopping trolley unless you need it! A trolley, most of the time, is just a place to put stuff you don't need. If you're carrying a product, you're a lot more likely to consider whether it's a worthwhile purchase. Before you start, think what you are shopping for and stick to it, only get a trolley if you are really going to need it, you can save money this way.

Supermarket Smells

One of the first things you'll notice when you enter a supermarket is the mouth-watering smell. There is a specific reason why supermarkets smell of freshly baked goods, and also why the bakery is almost always found near the store entrance. The reason is that a bakery making bread and desserts gives off an absolutely irresistible smell, and that smell is likely to make you hungry. The supermarket also knows that if you feel hungry while you shop, you are likely to spend more money - a lot more - than if you are not hungry.

FIGHT BACK - Only shop when you are NOT hungry - A simple way that you can combat this is by going grocery shopping only after you have had a meal and are full. Shopping while you're full makes it much easier to resist the great smelling temptations that the supermarket will flaunt in front of you.

Desirable Departments

Desirable departments are far away from the entrance. Most of the items I go to a department store to buy, such as milk and washing powder, are located many, many aisles from the entrance. This means I spend my time walking by a lot of goods on my way to find the item I want. Because these goods are effectively marketed to me, there's a good likelihood that I'll see something that I don't necessarily need and toss it in the trolley.

FIGHT BACK - Be aware of marketing - Simply being aware of this technique should help you save money and not be "marketed". If you spot something that looks interesting on your way to buy milk, walk straight past it, if you really needed it you would have had it on your list in the first place.

The Toy Section

The toy section is far, far, far away from the entrance. Children naturally want to visit the toy section wherever you shopping. A usual promise made by parents is, "if you are good we can go there later and when later comes children naturally drag their parents there, past all the other products on the way that tempt the parent to buy.

FIGHT BACK - Don't have children - Joking, just blindfold them........JOKING again, but seriously try and avoid taking them shopping with you, try leaving them at your parents. Your shop will be quicker, cheaper and a much more enjoyable experience :)

Impulse-oriented Items

Impulse-oriented items are near the checkouts. Stores stock the latest DVD releases and magazines there, along with overpriced drinks and sweets. Why? Because people leaving the store are thirsty and usually hungry, and they're going to be standing in line for a bit, which is the perfect place to hook them with some entertainment and snack options.

FIGHT BACK - Conduct a Checkout Assessment - At the checkout, rethink everything you put in your cart, and don't hesitate to hand an item to the cashier and say you've changed your mind. Many people seem to have a guilt, or obligation, to buy an item that they've put into their cart. Don't! You're the customer, you have the right to choose whether to buy. If you find something you don't want to buy, tell the cashier and don't buy it.

Expensive Item Placement

The most expensive versions of a product are the ones at eye level. Take a look sometime at the arrangement of different choices for a particular product, such as laundry detergent. Almost every time, the most expensive options per unit are placed at eye level, so you see them first when you enter an aisle. The bulk options and better deals or shops own brands are usually on the bottom shelf.

FIGHT BACK - Look at up and down - Make sure you check out the bottom and the top shelf whenever you pick up an item and before you put it in your trolly.

Pretend Offers!

Items that aren't on sale are sometimes placed as though they are on sale, without using the word "sale." Department stores display a rack with a huge sign above displaying the price, but it's the same price you paid for them a week ago, in fact in some cases it's more. I remember going buying some muller light yoghurt's 10 for £2. A week later I saw them again, exactly the same lay out and signs, however when I looked closer it was 5 for £2. I could so easily have just picked them up!

FIGHT BACK - Use a calculator - Carry a pocket calculator, or know how to use the one on your mobile phone. Do the math yourself to find out what the best buy is because stores try to choose numbers that make drawing false conclusions quite easy.

Commodity Items

Commodity items, such as socks, are surrounded by non commodity items, such as shirts and jeans. If I'm looking to buy some socks, I have to traverse through a number of racks full of different types of clothing in the clothing section just to reach them. Why? If my mind is already open to the idea of buying clothes, I would be more likely to look at other clothing items.

Product Placement

Slickly packaged items alternate with less slickly packaged items. Look carefully at an aisle of, say, crisps. The ones with the bright and slick packaging are generally more expensive. Notice that there usually isn't a section of just inexpensive crisps in most stores, they're sandwiched between more-expensive items. If there is a section of just inexpensive items, they're down by your feet.

FIGHT BACK - Always look up and down - As the previous tip, always look at the bottom shelf first. If you've found the section you want, start looking at the bottom shelf first. This is usually where the better deals are.

Store Layout

Stop, stop, stop. You add items to your trolley only if you stop, right? So stores are designed to maximize the number of stops you have to make: aisles in which only two trolleys can fit (which really annoys me). noticed the recent re-design of most UK supermarkets layouts, my local was great with loads of space, they have recently designed it and all the aisles are really thin! Grrrrrrrrrrr! Colorful and attractive layouts, escalators and, my favorite of all, sample vendors, all placed to make you stop! Even if it's not conscious to you, every time you stop moving in a store, you increase your chances of putting something into your trolley.

FIGHT BACK - Walk front to back - Start at the back and work toward the front. If this is an option at all for you based on the store layout, do it. When you go in, head directly for the most distant item, then progress back toward the checkout aisles. If you do it the other way, you're prone to walk more slowly and tiredly toward the front after your shopping is done, leaving you open to lots of impulse buys on the way.

Staple Items

Staple items are placed in the middle of aisles, non-essential and overpriced items near the end. Why? If you enter an aisle to get a "staple" item (i.e. a high-traffic item), you have to go by the other items twice, once on the way in and once on the way out. That gives these items two chances to make their pitch at you.

FIGHT BACK - Never go back - Never walk by an item twice unless absolutely necessary. If you go down an aisle, start at one end and continue all the way out the other. Walking by an item once lets it sink into your short-term memory, giving just a hint of familiarity when you walk by it again, sometimes just enough to persuade you to buy it.

Pricing

Prices are chosen to make comparison math difficult. Instead of selling a 1 kilo box of washing powder for £3 and the 2 kilo washing powder for £5 (making it easier to figure out the better deal), they sell the 1 kilo for £2.99 and the 2 kilo for £4.89.

FIGHT BACK - Only look at Price & Size - Look at nothing but the prices and sizes. That's all the information you really need, everything else is marketing. Find the one that has the best price for its size, get that one, and move on.

Bargain Bins?

Stuff in bins isn't always a bargain. Higher-end stores will sometimes put items in "bins" to emulate the bargains found at cheaper stores, but the prices are still quite high. They just use the visual cue of a "bargain store" to make you think it is a bargain.

FIGHT BACK - Suss out the deal - If you don't know for sure that it is a good deal, don't buy because you think it is a good deal. Stores use all kinds of visual cues to make you think something is a bargain when it's not (like the bin trick mentioned above). Don't buy anything because it's a "deal" unless you're sure that it really is an excellent bargain, just walk away.

High-markup Items

High-markup items are made to look prestigious. If you see something in a glass case that has lots of space around it, your gut reaction is to believe that it is valuable and prestigious to own, and for many people it can be as attractive as a light to a moth. The truth is that these items typically have tremendous markup, you're literally just buying an idea, not a product.

Department Placement

The most profitable department is usually the first one you run into. Ever noticed that at stores such as Debenhams and House of Fraser, the cosmetic department is front and center? That's because it's very profitable, and by putting it in a place where people walk by time and time again, customers are more prone to making a purchase on an item with a very big markup.

FIGHT BACK - keep Walking - Don't stop unless you're actively selecting an item. Displays are designed to beg you to stop for a moment and just look, which is often enough to get you to pick out the item. Even if something looks interesting, keep walking. You can study it as you go past and make up your mind later about the item.

Restrooms

Restrooms and customer services are usually right by the exit or as far from the exit as possible. Why? If you need to use either one in the middle of a shopping journey, you have to walk by a lot of merchandise to reach the needed service, thus increasing your chances for an impulse buy.

Moving Items

Ever gone to a clothes shop and seen a top you really like and gone back 3 days later to buy it only to find it is at the other side of the store. Ever been doing your food shopping and gone to buy your favorite tin of soup only to find its is 5 shelves to the right of its usual place? No, the shop assistants didn't get bored and decide to have a change around. It's done on purpose! Shelves change constantly. Shops will often rearrange shelves, making shoppers search for their regular items and discover new products in the old, familiar shelve spaces.

FIGHT BACK - Make a shopping list - Make a shopping list and stick to it. A list makes you focus on the items you intended to buy. Without it, you are much more prone to wandering and stumbling into "great buys" that you don't really need.

Prepared Food

Pre-cut fruit, pre-washed salad, chopped carrots, mashed potato.........you name it, we can buy fresh fruit and veg already prepared saving us, oh, valuable minutes in preparation time. It's a technique that has become increasingly popular in recent years. It means shops can charge much much more, in some cases double the price of unprepared foods. Don't be lazy and more importantly save yourself some money and don't pay silly money for the sake of saving some time peeling and chopping a bit of veg!

FIGHT BACK - Don't buy veg in packaging - If it is in plastic think twice, some packaging is essential BUT if you can get the item loose without a plastic wrapping, whats more unprepared, you can guarantee it will be cheaper. Don't pay 40p more for the fact that a carrot pealed and chopped will save you, OH, 1 minute of time in preparation.

Popularity: 6% [?]